890g.6363 T 84/18a

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain ( Harvey )

[Extract]
No. 233

Sir: Reference is made to the Embassy’s telegram No. 160 of March 1, 1921, and to the Department’s telegraphic instruction No. 448 of August 4, 1921,26 relating to economic rights in mandate territories and particularly to the claim of the Turkish Petroleum Company in Mesopotamia.

The Embassy is requested to present to the Foreign Office a note in the sense of the following, adverting appropriately to the Embassy’s communication to the Foreign Office in accordance with the Department’s telegraphic instruction No. 448 of August 4, 1921:

[Here follows the text of the note; the note as presented to the Foreign Office on November 17 is printed on page 89.]

[Page 87]

The Embassy is requested to inform the Department by telegraph of the date of the delivery of the note to the Foreign Office and to mail promptly copies of the note to the Department. The Embassy will also mail copies of the note to the American Commission at Berlin, to the American High Commission at Constantinople, and to the Legation at Berne for their confidential information, and to the Embassies at Paris and Rome, to be presented to the French and Italian Foreign Offices.

When delivering the above note or upon the next appropriate occasion, the Embassy may state orally that this Government has noted certain published reports to the effect that the Anglo–Persian Oil Company, which is controlled by the British Government, is expected to be the chief participant in the Turkish Petroleum Company. The Embassy may make inquiry regarding the truth of these reports, and it may be stated that, if the reports are correct, it is assumed that the British Government in a matter in which not merely British nationals but the British Government itself is largely interested will wish, if the claim of the Turkish Petroleum Company is pressed, to have the question of its validity appropriately determined by the suggested arbitration.

I am [etc.]

Charles E. Hughes
  1. Post, p. 106.